Adventures in Bali

Arriving in Bali Wednesday night, we found that our hostel was farther away than it looked on the map. “About 2, maybe three hours from here, big price,” we were told by every airport taxi. Or…maybe they were just trying to rip us off.  So we abandoned the airport taxis in search of regular ones. Only, the airport was bigger than it looked…and not near anything except highways. Seeing a hotel connected to the airport, we thought maybe they could call us a normal cab, but it didn’t look open. So, logically, we stormed into the police station next door, flung our backpacks on chairs and expressed the extreme urgency of our dilemma. Amused, they sat us down and introduced themselves. They must have been bored, or just thought we were really entertaining, because instead of calling a taxi they chatted for an hour, and more officers kept showing up. Soon there was food and Love Bug on TV and apparently we were having a party. The food was actually some of the best we’d had in Indonesia so far. It was rice, chicken and a spicy sauce wrapped in leaves, and you eat it with your hands. One of the officers came into the station, saw us eating and exclaimed, “I have never seen this before! I have to take a photo!” Just because we look very American doesn’t mean we can’t adapt. J He then became obsessed with Brianna’s eyebrows and kept trying to convince her to take up Balinese dancing. It was time to leave. We ended up driving with one of their friends…who drives an airport taxi…meaning we made no progress and still had to pay more than we should have. At least we got free dinner.

Our hostel was at Soka Beach, and without any traffic only took an hour to get to. We were led to our bungalow at 1am and fell asleep immediately. In the morning we got breakfast at the restaurant there, then got ready for a day at the beach! The view was very pretty, with waves crashing over giant black rocks onto the black sand beache, but the beaches were covered with fish from the fishermen next to us, and no one seemed to be basking in the sun like we’d thought they would be.  In fact, there was no one on the beach at all. We wandered for a bit, and just when we thought we had found the perfect, secluded spot for sunning, we came across a DEAD BABY COW. Yes, there, contorted in a position we can only guess means it fell from the rice paddies above us, was a brown and white baby cow. It was very small, and its fur was nice and there were no bugs. This was a recent death, and we were very disturbed. How did it possibly get from the farm by the restaurant to the beach? It was a mystery we discussed for days. We were obviously too disturbed to try to tan next to it, so we found a rock instead. Then two wild dogs came up to us. We left and did laundry. This turned out to be a family hostel, where the families sat in their bungalows all day in hiding and came out at night in herds to the restaurant. Sun bathing felt inappropriate, but beaches and boardwalks were what we had in mind for Bali. At dinner that night, I had fried chicken that over the course of the next 24 hours made me very, very ill. (It might not have been the chicken, but it was definitely something I ate). A day later, due to the food, the lack of beach, the lack of young people, and the distance from anything fun, we checked out early and checked into a hotel in Kuta, the touristy area we were originally planning to avoid.

Kuta was much better. Flocks of Australians, Europeans, and many other tourists strolled through street markets in their swimming suits sipping fruity drinks. Perfect. Except I was still sick so I huddled in bed and tried to eat anything, but couldn’t for the next day and a half.

Sunday morning we woke up early to go to Bali’s Monkey Forest, which was really fun! Hundreds of monkeys live in the forest, and they scamper every which way, climb all over you and occasionally steal your belongings. Brianna had one jump on her back for a few minutes. We went to an art market after that, but I started to feel extremely sick again, so we went back to our hotel and I slept for hours while Brianna got some reading in by the pool. Eventually I woke up, so we got massages from the sweet little lady that worked by the pool, (a full body massage was only $8).

Finally, Monday morning I was feeling better so we feasted on egg sandwiches and donuts in celebration before leaving for Vietnam. Now we’re in Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon!